Bashar Barhoum woke up in his cell in a Damascus prison on Sunday morning, believing it was his last day alive. The 63-year-old author, who spent seven harrowing months in detention, was scheduled for execution.
But the men who showed up at his door were not from former President Bashar al-Assad’s fearsome security forces. Instead, they were rebels who came to free him.
Over the past 10 days, rebels have toppled the Assad regime in Syria after 50 years of authoritarian rule. In the process, they attacked prisons and security facilities, freeing political prisoners and many of the thousands who have disappeared since the uprising began in 2011.
“I felt like I was going to die tomorrow,” Barhoum said Associated Press After walking the streets of Damascus in unbelief. “Thank God, he gave me a second chance at life.” Left in jail, without his belongings or phone, Barhoum went to find a way to tell his family—his wife and daughters—that he was alive.
Videos widely shared on social media captured emotional scenes: prisoners, many barefoot or in bare clothes, running and celebrating their freedom. A man shouted with joy as he realized that the regime had fallen.
Prisons in Syria have long been notorious for brutal conditions. Torture, starvation, and secret executions have been widely documented by human rights organizations and partisans. In 2013, a whistleblower known as “Caesar” smuggled 53,000 photos out of Syria, exposing widespread torture and inhumane conditions in Assad’s prisons.
“Anxiety about being thrown into Assad’s notorious prisons created widespread mistrust among Syrians,” said Lina Khatib, a Middle East expert at Chatham House. “Assad nurtured this culture of fear to maintain control and crush the opposition.”
One of the most notorious facilities, Saidnaya prison near Damascus, has been called a “human slaughterhouse” by Amnesty International. Reports state that there were 13,000 people secretly executed between 2011 and 2016. On Sunday, women held in Saydnaya, including some children, screamed as rebels broke the locks on their cells.
“Don’t be afraid…Bashar Assad has fallen! Why are you afraid?” One of the rebels reassured the prisoners as they were led out.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, thousands of prisoners have been released in cities including Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama.
For many Syrians, the joy of Assad’s fall has been tempered by a desperation to find loved ones. Families have gathered outside prisons and security centers hoping for news of relatives who have been missing for years.
His son Bassam Masri, who was detained 13 years ago at the beginning of the rebellion, said that the search is still on. He said, ‘This happiness will not be complete until we see our son free and we will not know where he is.
Heba, whose full name has not been released, was looking for her brother and brother-in-law who went missing in 2011 after reporting their car stolen. “They took a lot of us,” she said tearfully. “We don’t know anything … they (Assad’s regime) have broken our hearts.”
Amidst the chaos, human rights advocate Omar Alshogre, who survived Syria’s brutal prisons, watched the scenes from afar. “Hundreds of democracies did nothing to help, and now some military groups came and ransacked open prison after prison,” he said. Associated Press from your country abroad.
As Syria begins a new chapter, those freed from Assad’s prisons walk freely on the streets of Damascus, but countless others remain missing — a grim reminder of more than a decade of conflict.
(with input from AP)